USA Track & Field (USATF) today announced that the University of Oregon’s Vin Lananna and Southern Illinois University’s Connie Price-Smith have been chosen as the men’s and women’s head coaches for Team USA at next year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Lananna previously served as head coach of the US at the 2011 World Championship in Daegu and has worked at several other major events, including the 2004 Olympics in Athens, where he was the assistant coach.

As the President and visionary of TrackTown USA, Lananna was heavily involved in Eugene recently persuading the International Association of Athletics Federations to award them the 2021 World Championships, the first time the event will have been held in America.

The 2016 US Olympic Trials are due to be held in Eugene from July 1 to 10 next year.

It will be the third consecutive time they have held the Olympic Trials having also staged them for Beijing 2008 and London 2012.

Price-Smith led US women’s teams at the 2011 World Championships and 2007 Pan American Games, which also took place in Rio de Janeiro.

An assistant coach at the 2008 Olympics, she has served on numerous other US coaching staffs.

Head coach at Southern Illinois for the past 14 years, Price-Smith was a 25-time national champion in the shot put and discus and a member of 34 international teams as a competitor, including at four Olympic Games – Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000.

Tracy Sundlun, co-founder of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series and a former Olympic assistant coach, will serve as men’s head manager and Marsha Horan, who coaches at the IMG Academy in Florida, will be the women’s head manager.

The women’s assistant coaches will be Bonnie Edmondson from Trinity College for the throws, Robyne Johnson from Boston University for jumps and combined events, Rose Monday, a former University of Texas-San Antonio coach, who will be in charge of distances and LaTanya Sheffield from Long Beach State University who will look after sprints and hurdles.

The men’s assistant coaches will be Troy Engle, a former Army coach, will oversee the distances, Curtis Frye from University of South Carolina sprints and hurdles, Cliff Rovelto from Kansas State University jumps and combined events and Mario Sategna from the University of Texas throws.

The US finished top of the medals table in athletics at London 2012.

They won a total of 29 medals, including nine gold.

This article was republished with permission from the original publisher, Inside the Games.

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